The House passed a resolution on Thursday removing controversial GOP representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from its assigned committees.
The final vote was 230-199 and 11 Republicans voted in support of the resolution: Reps. Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania, John Katko from New York, Nicole Malliotakis from New York, Fred Upton from Michigan, Carlos Gimenez from Florida, Chris Jacobs from New York, Young Kim from California, Maria Salazar from Florida, Chris Smith from New Jersey and Mario Diaz Balart from Florida.
Greene, an outspoken advocate of Trump’s baseless allegations of electoral fraud, has been condemned by Democrats and many Republicans for embracing numerous conspiracy theories in videos and social media before taking office this year.
In 2018 and 2019 posts and videos, reviewed by CNN, Greene appeared to endorse the violence against prominent Democrats, including house speaker Nancy Pelosi, and suggested that the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings were staged with “false flag” operations. They have since been removed.
The move to boot her from the House Education and Labor Committee, as well as the House Budget Committee, came after Republican leaders refused to remove her themselves under pressure from Democrats to do so. Thursday’s vote forced Republicans to keep abreast of Greene’s behavior.
Greene defended herself in a speech before the vote, expressing regret over some of her earlier comments – which some felt were too little, too late.
“These were words from the past and these things don’t represent me, they don’t represent my district and they don’t represent my values,” Greene said of her past posts and social media interactions.
“I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I will tell you why. I believe in God with all my heart, and I am so thankful to be humbled, to be reminded that I am a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross to forgive me – to forgive me my sins, ”she said.
This is something I am absolutely delighted to tell you all today. I think it’s important that we all remember that none of us is perfect. None of us is, ”she said.
Greene also said she believes that “9/11 absolutely happened” and “school shootings are absolutely real and that every kid who’s lost those families mourn it.”
But she also tried to blame ‘culture lifting’ for her troubles and the media for how she came across, saying, ‘big media companies can say tiny bits of words that I said, that you said, each of us, and can portray us as someone we are not. “
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Has previously condemned Greene’s comments but has stopped taking disciplinary action.
Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that she is “deeply concerned” that Republican leaders have decided not to remove Greene from her committees.
“That’s just such a shame,” she said. “You would think that the Republican leadership in Congress would have some sense of responsibility to this institution.”
Pelosi also defended her party for acting against Greene, saying it is because of Republican inaction that Democrats continued with the vote later Thursday.
“If one of our members were to jeopardize the safety of other members, we would be the first to remove them from a committee,” said Pelosi. “That is it.”
McCarthy met with Greene on Tuesday evening about her committee assignments and even convened the GOP steering group – which assigns committee seats – to discuss the matter. But in the end he decided not to take any action.
McCarthy rejected the Democrats’ call to remove Greene from the committees, blaming the Democrats for rejecting his proposal to place her on the Small Business Committee instead.
Greene has not denied making the comments on social media or in recorded videos, but said other people had access to her accounts in a statement on Twitter.
Some Democrats have put in place measures to disapprove of Greene on the floor of the House and even evict her, which would be an extraordinary move that would require the support of about 70 House Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have loudly criticized the freshman House member, and McConnell even issued a rare statement on Monday quashing her “crazy lies and conspiracy theories.”
While House Republicans have largely condemned Greene’s comments, some members have said they are reluctant to punish Greene for comments made before she was elected to serve in Congress.
Greene, who has faced intense criticism, apologized late Wednesday night to members for supporting QAnon conspiracy theories and for her previous comments about school shootings during a private evening conference-wide meeting, according to sources. Her expression of remorse for previous positions was appreciated by some members in the hall.
According to a source in the room, the controversial congressman received a standing ovation from about half of the conference.
She’d previously said she wouldn’t apologize by tweeting Saturday, ‘I won’t flinch. I will never apologize. And I will always keep fighting for the people. ‘
Despite the personal apologies to her colleagues, Greene has not made an explicit public apology for her behavior, despite two-pronged calls for her to do so.
Benjamin Siegel of ABC News contributed to this report.